Journey to Ixtlan

The poem “The Stand-In” is about the struggle to subsist in a conservative world.


The Stand-In

The stand-in has their place
a substitute in many ways
for the creature kept within
fully cowed by cries of sin

evoked on lips as the truth
conveyed out loud in perpetude
from the elders seeped in fear
a bias passed through the years

this masquerade responds in kind
the doppelganger all to mild
seeking peace with the world
at any price is the resolve

while behind the private mask
a hell exists without regard
for the pretender strutting round
the stand-in within the bounds.

© 2019. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20191009.

The poem “Self-Same” was inspired by my admiration of friends who are as non-normative as this poem’s author.  I feel less alone in the world knowing there are fellow travelers. A shared characteristic is the need to appease the greater populace, only showing the colors when safety allows.


Self-Same

This prospector of a kind
for a treasure none can mine
instead the search taps the vein
of bent souls much the same

to find otherwise is the norm
that cookie-cutter life implores
sets the highs and the lows
into which all must flow

even while the traveler seeks
the camouflaged who prescribe
with the outer while the insides
twist away from standard’s set

into arms of fellow kinks
measured by a knowing wink
the prize measured in the twist
recognized by the self-same.

© 2019. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20191003.

Perhaps getting older has opened me to seeing beauty in the extremes of the world. Wait, I don’t think that’s the normal convention. Just as well! The poem “In the Extreme” is about where beauty and sexiness is found: in the places others would not expect.


In the Extreme

Predilections lead me there
to extremes both short and tall
shades that span a spectrum wide
gender can be compromised
as words roll hot to comply
matching what I fancy for
I'll tell you more of what I like

character is the litmus test
sexiness none can deny
this terra firma is the start
same or opposite both apply
androgyny is the reward
when intimacy finds it course
before the gender can decide
what is pleasant to my eye

back to height my interests lead
tall so fine, I'll proceed
seeing one at eye-to-eye
or even higher is delight
oh so short is nice to hold
as delicate as a china bowl
grown to speak with mature mind
small enough to dip in kind

attitude can peak my eye
the barb of language invites my mind
whips and chains by words evoke
pleasant thoughts the same provoke
delivered with a side of sass
just add some snark to spice it up
hot tamale, kimchi's burn
speak the mind with acid tongue

so many colors fill the world
at the ends I'll explore
each its own pleasant tone
dark to ginger I'll implore
intense is better I'll admit
when I look to fill the niche
compliment my pallid tint
add the hues from rainbow's curve.

oh so many adventures lay ahead
beyond the common everyday
what I am, where I've been
who I seek beyond these realms
my predilections look beyond
to the ones you'd not think
lift my heart, skip a beat
shocking they may seem to be
interest me in the extreme.

2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20161209.